Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee Thursday slammed ex-Presidents
George H.W. Bush and his son, George W., for staying away from endorsing Donald Trump as the nominee, saying that if they can't support the GOP nominee they should get out of the party.
"When we nominated various people over the past several election cycles to be president, there were many of us who had heartburn," Huckabee, who dropped his own presidential bid after the Iowa caucuses in February, told
Fox News' "America's Newsroom" co-host Bill Hemmer.
"But we sucked it up and went out there and vigorously supported our nominee," he continued. "If they are not going to support the people the Republicans nominated, they need to get out of the Republican Party and admit they are not Republican or be honest and say I only want it when I get it my way."
Huckabee said he supported both Bushes, even though he had misgivings about them, and when Hemmer noted the Bush family would argue Trump is not a conservative, Huckabee pointed out that Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton isn't one either.
"Anything that doesn't help Trump helps Hillary," said Huckabee, noting that he understands that because of some of the personal attacks Trump made against them and against Jeb Bush while he was still a candidate might make them less than supportive.
"They could say I will support the Republican nominee and that means I won't say anything bad and I'll stay out of it," said Bush. "That I get. But I think it's problematic if they indicate they won't even vote for the person the party nominates. That's a problem."
Meanwhile, the former Arkansas governor said Thursday that even though he's been supporting Trump for months, his main focus is to make sure Clinton isn't the next president, not concerning himself with becoming the presumptive GOP nominee's running mate.
"I don't have any interest in anything unless he were to say he was interested. "He never said anything about it. I'm moving on with my life."
Moving on means defeating Clinton, and Huckabee says he knows her better than most.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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